Shot simulator using laser light for simulating guided missiles

Abstract

A shot simulator using laser light is disclosed for simulating guided missiles. A laser transmitter coupled to a target tracking sight emits differently coded laser signals having different angular deviations from the line of sight repeatedly during at least a substantial portion of the time of flight of the simulated missile. A receiver for laser light reflected from the target is coupled to decoding and analyzing means for calculating the momentary angular deviation of the sight from the target and evaluating these deviations over a substantial portion of said time of flight. Hit indicating means are controlled responsive to the result of said evaluation. The device further comprises means for comparing the angular deviations with stored data representing maximum admissible deviations and/or with an apparent typical target size calculated from a continuously measured actual target distance, means for continuously displaying the relative positions of the target and the sight tracking point, means for differently weighting downward, upward and lateral deviations and means for time averaging the evaluation results over a substantial portion of said time of flight.

I claim: 
     
       1. A shot simulator using laser light for simulating the shooting of sight guided missiles, comprising a sight for tracking a target,   a laser transmitter coupled to the sight for emitting laser light beams having different angular deviations from the line of sight and being characterized by different pulse codes,   a receiver for receiving laser light reflected from said target,   a decoder coupled to said receiver for decoding said pulse code of the reflected light and providing an output indicative of the momentary angular deviation of the target from said line of sight,   comparing means for comparing said momentary angular target deviation with stored maximum admissible deviation limits,   means coupled to the trigger of the simulated weapon for continuously repeating said emission of the laser light, said decoding of the reflected light and said comparison of the angular target deviation over a measurement period corresponding to the time of flight of the simulated missile,   hit indicating means,   and control means for said hit indicating means coupled to said comparing means and being responsive to the result of said comparison obtained during at least part of said measurement period,   so as to produce a hit indication only if said angular deviations have been within said stored limits during a sufficient portion of the total measurement period.   
     
     
       2. A shot simulator according to claim 1, further comprising a distance meter coupled to said receiver for calculating the target distance from the travelling time of said laser light, and a time of flight calculator coupled to said distance meter for calculating the time of flight of the simulated missile from the measured distance and from stored velocity data, said measurement period being controlled responsive to the output of said time of flight calculator. 
     
     
       3. A shot simulator according to claim 2, further comprising an apparent target size calculator coupled to said distance meter for calculating from the target distance the distance-dependent apparent target size, and second comparing means for comparing the apparent target size with the momentary angular deviations of the target from said line of sight, said control means for said hit indicating means being responsive to the result of said comparing means. 
     
     
       4. A shot simulator according to one of claims 1, 2, or 3, further comprising time averaging means for continuously producing a time average of the angular target deviation from said line of sight over an averaging time corresponding to a fraction of the total measurement period, said control means being responsive to the result of said averaging means. 
     
     
       5. A shot simulator as claimed in one of claims 1, 2, or 3, wherein said laser emitter is adapted for emitting differently coded laser light signals into a plurality of discrete, contiguous solid angle segments grouped around the line of sight, and comprising interpolation means coupled to said decoder for interpolating between reflected laser light signals received from different adjacent solid angle sectors. 
     
     
       6. A shot simulator as claimed in one of claim 3, wherein said hit indicating means comprises a display for displaying the momentary apparent target size and the momentary tracking point of the line of sight during substantially the whole measurement period. 
     
     
       7. A shot simulator as claimed in one of claim 1, wherein said control means for said hit indicating means comprises means for differently weighting downward, upward or laterally directed target deviations.